What do you get when you mix 14 middle and high school boys, 5 middle school and high school girls, a
bus, 13 adults, snacks and a guitar? A great time! The youth of Central Bay district, representing 9
different churches left for Big Rapids early Thursday morning after a blessing and sendoff from Pastor
Ernesto Mariona and some congregation at Freeland UMC.
There were games. There were songs. There was food pantry work, yard work, setup work, cleaning,
sorting and carrying. There was worship with Pastor Jeremy Wicks from Big Rapids First UMC. There was a lot of pivoting by kids who never complained due to weather, scheduling snafus by the agencies we
were working with and pesky country roads!
A full write up and picture gallery will be out in the August newsletter – stay tuned! But in the
meantime, know that there is a great group of kids who love Jesus, are full of kindness towards each
other and strangers in a community that wasn’t there’s, respectful and willing to act as the hands and
feet of Jesus doing missional work. If you have one or ten youth, 6 th grade to 12 th grade, we’d love for
you to be a part of our fun at the July Summer Serve Mission Day at the Toni & Trish house. Details for
that are in an article in this newsletter.
THANK YOU to all of the adults who took time off from work to travel with us and make this an
unforgettable – for real! – trip: DS John Kasper, Pastor Ernesto Mariona, Pastor Rob Richards, Pastor
Jeremy Wicks, Ferris Wesley House Director Kim Bos, Brady & Tara, Heather (who has the voice of an
angel), Amie, Adrenne, Jason, Jeff, Hilary, Lori, Maliha, Becky, Tina & Jennifer Lane, the best pivoter and fearless leader!